how do you show kindness to others essay

Essay on Kindness

500 words essay on kindness.

The world we live in today has been through a lot of things from world wars to epidemics, but one thing which remained constant throughout was resilience and kindness. Moreover, it was the spirit to fight back and help out each other. Kindness must be an essential and universal quality to make the world a better place. Through an essay on kindness, we will go through it in detail.

Importance of Kindness

Kindness towards nature, animals and other people has the ability to transform the world and make it a beautiful place for living. But, it is also important to remember that kindness towards you is also essential for personal growth.

Kindness is basically being polite, compassionate and thoughtful. Every religion and faith teaches its followers to be kind. Most importantly, kindness must not limit to humans but also to every living creature.

Even nature has its own way of showing kindness. For instance, the trees grow fruits for us and provide us with shade. One must not see kindness as a core value but as a fundamental behavioural element. When you are kind to your loved ones, you create a stable base.

As people are becoming more self-centred today, we must learn kindness. We must try to integrate it into ourselves. You might not know how a small act of kindness can bring about a change in someone’s life. So, be kind always.

Kindness Always Wins

There is no doubt that kindness always wins and it has been proven time and again by people. Sid is a greedy man who does not share his wealth with anyone, not even his family members.

He also does not pay his workers well. One day, he loses his bag of gold coins and loses his temper. Everyone helps him out to search for it but no one finds it. Finally, his worker’s little son finds the bag.

Upon checking the bag, he sees all the coins are there. But, his greed makes him play a trick on the poor worker. He claims that there were more coins in the bag and the worker stole them.

The issue goes to the court and the judge confirms from Sid whether his bag had more coins to which he agrees. So, the judge rules out that as Sid’s bag had more coins , the bag which the worker’s son found is not his.

Therefore, the bag gets handed to the worker as no one else claims it. Consequently, you see how the worker’s son act of kindness won and paid him well. On the other hand, how Sid’s greediness resulted in his loss only.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Kindness

It is essential for all of us to understand the value of kindness. Always remember, it does not cost anything to be kind. It may be a little compliment or it can be a grand gesture, no matter how big or small, kindness always matters. Therefore, try your best to be kind to everyone around you.

FAQ of Essay on Kindness

Question 1: Why is it important to be kind?

Answer 1: It is important to be kind because it makes one feel good about oneself. When you do things for other people and help them with anything, it makes you feel warm and that you have accomplished something. Moreover, you also get respect in return.

Question 2: Why is kindness so powerful?

Answer 2: Kindness has a lot of benefits which includes increased happiness and a healthy heart . It slows down the ageing process and also enhances relationships and connections, which will indirectly boost your health.

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✍️Essay on Kindness: Samples in 100, 150 and 200 Words

• Updated on  
• Nov 2, 2023

Research says that being kind to someone or vice versa can positively rewire your brain. Kindness is when one is generous to another person. Well, in today’s world, it is very difficult. We can hardly find anyone. Do you wish to bring a change in your lifestyle ? Well, you have come to the right place. Today, we will be talking about kindness in depth. Here, in this article, we have compiled several sample essays on kindness which describe this topic in depth. 

Table of Contents

• 1 Importance of Kindness
• 2 Essay on Kindness in 100 Words
• 3 Essay on Kindness in 150 Words
• 4 Essay on Kindness in 200 Words

Importance of Kindness

Kindness is an effortless yet powerful gesture which put a very positive impact on someone’s life. In the academic community, this gesture is seen as an attitude that can create a huge impact on one’s achievement. 

Speaking in a bit of a medical language, being kind to someone boosts serotonin and dopamine. These brain chemicals, known as neurotransmitters, are what light up your reward and pleasure centres and give you a sense of fulfilment.

This doesn’t end here. Kindness has been shown to have cardioprotective effects. It can lower blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn affects stress levels. 

Speaking of which, here, we have compiled an essay on kindness which will provide you with more information on this topic. Let’s dive in. 

Also Read: Essay on the Importance of the English Language for Students

Essay on Kindness in 100 Words

Being kind is a basic virtue which is very important for humankind to create a world that is more peaceful and compassionate. It is one of the most straightforward acts which can be shown by anyone to others without expecting anything in return. When it comes to showing kindness, there are many ways by which one can show it. These include opening doors for others giving your time to support a good cause or simply being with them during their hard times. 

Always remember that even showing a tiny act of kindness can create a huge impact in someone’s life or simply make their day better. 

Also Read: Essay on Save Environment: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

Essay on Kindness in 150 Words

Kindness is a feeling of being generous, friendly and considerate. In a world full of hatred and cruelty, kindness is what one can spread. You never know whom you might someone from a having bad day. One can simply start spreading kindness in the community they are living in. 

One of the best examples to describe the word kindness would be Mother Teresa . She devoted her entire life to caring for the destitute and dying in the slums of Calcutta (Kolkata). She is considered to be one of the greatest humanitarians the world has ever produced.

Speaking of kindness, doing little things such as opening a door for someone. Helping an elderly person cross the street, or holding things of someone are some basic things which can be done.

To conclude, kindness is contagious. It can spread like wildfire. Therefore, in a world where there is so much hatred, and cruelty, where people are fighting. One can be kind which will provoke others to do the same. 

Also Read: Essay on Unity in Diversity in 100 to 200 Words

Essay on Kindness in 200 Words

Kindness is one of the most important qualities which people should have. This is very important to create a more compassionate and harmonious world. The simple act of being considerate towards others and not expecting anything in return is kindness. The word ‘kindness’ can be expressed in many different ways. From helping someone during tough times to helping an old lady cross the street is what best describes this word. 

Other than this, kindness is also beneficial for our well-being. Studies show that people who are kind to people around them tend to be more happy than others. This is because of the endorphins which are released. They contribute towards mood-boosting and pain-relieving effects. Not only this, kindness has also proved to have reduced stress levels and improved cardiovascular health.

To conclude, I would like to leave you all with a thought. In today’s times, we hardly come across kind people. Consider ourselves, we may feel for others around us going through the bad phase but how often do we reach out and assist them? It is our responsibility to nurture kindness in ourselves before we can ask others to do the same for us.

Related Articles 

We hope after reading some of these essays on kindness, your perspective on kindness would have changed. Always remember, everyone is fighting their own battles, so the best you can do is be a little kind and bring a smile to their face. Signing off!

There are certain advantages to our happiness and general well-being for those of us who are kind and caring. Perhaps we will live longer. Additionally, kindness lowers stress and enhances mental health.

These expressions describe persons who are kind, considerate, and considerate of others’ feelings.

Kindness belongs to the human virtue category and is one of the 24 universal character strengths.

For more information on such interesting topics, visit our essay-writing page and follow Leverage Edu ! 

Malvika Chawla

Malvika is a content writer cum news freak who comes with a strong background in Journalism and has worked with renowned news websites such as News 9 and The Financial Express to name a few. When not writing, she can be found bringing life to the canvasses by painting on them.

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51 Kindness Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for kindness topic ideas to write about? The concepts of kindness, generosity, and compassion are crucial nowadays.

🏆 Best Kindness Essay Examples

📌 top kindness topics to write about, 🥰 interesting kindness essay topics, 👍 controversial kindness topic ideas, 🙏 catchy kindness essay titles.

Being a debated subject in philosophy, psychology, and religion, kindness is definitely worth writing about. The topic of kindness is one of the key in the Bible. It has become especially important nowadays, in the era of intolerance and instability. In your kindness essay, you might want to focus on the importance of helping others. Another option is to consider the concept of kindness in philosophy, psychology, and religion. Whatever direction you will choose, this article will be helpful. It contains everything necessary to write an A+ paper on generosity & compassion! There are kindness essay examples, topics, and research titles.

• Acts of Kindness and Happiness in Human Life The research at hand is aimed to prove that, to boost happiness through receiving positive emotions, a person should commit more actions that can be referred to as acts of kindness.
• Critical Response “On Compassion” She is a lawyer, a sign that her level of literacy is quite higher and she able to learn and understand, even by seeing, the situation of other people.
• Stories of Random Acts of Kindness Foundation I made a shopping list and after completing it, I went to one of the shelters to hand over the purchases to its representatives. In addition, it is important to understand that the reaction of […]
• Does True Altruism Exist? Therefore, in their experiment, Cialdini and his colleagues sought to separate the feelings of sadness from those of empathy among the subjects in order to assess the reliability of the findings of the former experiments […]
• “Selfless Gene” by Olivia Judson and Reasons for Altruism Once people realize that the biology and social life of another race is the same, they tend to be more understanding and kind.
• Random Acts of Kindness Foundation and Personal Acts of Kindness This exercise enabled me to reflect on my principles and think about the kind of impact I make in my day-to-day life.
• Acts of Kindness in Society Initially, she wrote a report on this topic, in the preparation of which she visited the shelter and was upset to tears about how depressing the life of animals is.
• “The Kindness of Strangers” by Ruben Martinez The USA may promote itself to be the “land of immigrants” with the Statue of Liberty as a shining reminder of what the rhetoric of residency means.
• Altruism and social behavior This shows altruism is not only beneficial to the recipients of the meritorious deeds but also to the doers of the deeds.
• An Anonymous Act of Kindness When speaking about the relation of altruism to psychology, it is necessary to state that altruism is considered to be the issue of social psychology.
• The Role of Compassion While Anne Fadiman’s this book seems to be primarily related to the impact of linguistic and cultural barriers on the experiences of immigrants, Amy Tan’s essay suggests that their difficulties can be explained primarily by […]
• Happy People Become Happier through Kindness: A Counting Kindnesses Intervention
• How Kindness Shapes One’s Destiny in Million Dollar Baby
• How Patience Can Be Considered An Act Of Kindness
• Important to Treat Patients with Kindness and Respect
• Introspection in A Complicated Kindness and The Catcher in the Rye
• Jacqueline Woodson’s Lovely Letter to Children About Kindness, Presence, and How Books Transform Us
• Job’s Suffering Not Befitting His Kindness and Compassion
• Larry and Friends: An Illustrated Ode to Immigration, Diversity, Otherness, and Kindness
• Love, Kindness, and the Song of the Universe: The Night Jack Kerouac Kept a Young Woman from Taking Her Own Life
• Marcus Aurelius on What His Father Taught Him About Humility, Honor, Kindness, and Integrity
• Muslim Muslims And Muslim People With Kindness And Love Essay
• People Can Still Show Kindness Despite all the Evil Out There Essay
• Portrayal Of The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment On Kindness
• Positive Interventions: Happiness Attained from Acts of Kindness and Gratitude
• Revealing of the True Identity in Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews and Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
• Revisiting Kindness and Confusion in Public Goods Experiments
• Roland: A Charming Vintage Illustrated Ode to the Imagination and the Animating Power of Kindness
• Secular Views on the Concept of Kindness
• Self-Indulgence or Kindness as the Keys to Happiness and a Better Life
• Self-Scrutiny Applied with Kindness: Epictetus’s Enduring Wisdom on Happiness and How Philosophy Helps Us Answer the Soul’s Cry
• Shakespeare: Portia’s Kindness Out Shines
• The Disabled With The Utmost Kindness And Compassion
• The Effect Of Kindness During The Iranian Revolution
• The Effect Of Random Acts Of Kindness, And Social Responsibility
• The Essence of Life: Kindness
• The Farmer and the Clown: A Warm Wordless Story about an Unlikely Friendship and How We Ennoble Each Other with Kindness
• The Huge Impact of the Small Acts of Kindness in Mawi Asgedom’s Memoir of Beetles
• The Importance of Kindness and Thankfulness in The Rihla Essay
• The Importance of Showing Kindness Through Acts
• The Importance of the Qualities of Shredders, Adaptability and Basic Human Kindness in Mark Twain’s Novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Injustice of Reality: Social Messages in Gilman’s “Wedded Bliss” and Plath’s “Kindness”
• The Issue Of Identity Change In The Novels “Mister Pip” By Lloyd Jones And “A Complicated Kindness” By Miriam Toews
• The Kindness of Strangers? An Investigation into the Interaction of Funder Motivations in Online Crowdfunding Campaigns
• The Kindness of Strangers: The Usefulness of Electronic Weak Ties for Technical Advice
• The Lion and the Mouse who Returned a Kindness
• Themes of a Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
• The Semblance of Selflessness: The Ingenuity of Kindness in As I Lay Dying
• The Theme of Kindness in The Grapes of Wrath, a Novel by John Steinbeck
• The Toil of Good and Evil: Multi-Faceted Kindness in The Book Thief
• The Value Of Kindness In Bhakti According To Vyasa’s The Bhagavad Gita
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Why Kindness Matters

Boosts to life satisfaction and physical and mental well-being..

Posted March 8, 2023 | Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster

• What Is Resilience?
• Find counselling near me
• Showing up kindly for others benefits both parties.
• Kindness has the power to boost satisfaction, happiness, and physical and mental well-being.
• Each of us has the capacity to show up kindly and make a difference in the world of another.

Kindness is about showing up in the world with compassion and acting for the greater good of all. While being nice is about being polite, pleasant, and agreeable and doing what we think we should, kindness goes a step beyond.

Kind humans know that life is hard, messy, and complex. Yet they understand that people are doing their best with the tools, resources, and experience they carry. Charles Glassman captured this by saying, “Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.”

Many people view kindness as a weakness, but it's quite the opposite. It is a sign of strength. It is moving from "me" to "we," seeing the bigger picture, and loaning someone your strength and support. Supporting someone by doing whatever you can, wherever you are, with whatever you have is a sign of who you are—a kind human.

Kindness is doing the things that may go without acknowledgment and thanks. Authentic and intentional kindness doesn’t expect anything in return. We can practice kindness for kindness’ sake, not for the personal gain or the approval of others.

Kindness is a universal language that can bring people together regardless of age, race, ethnicity , religion, status, and identity . The good news is that it’s completely free too! I don’t think the saying “kindness makes the world go ‘round” came about without reason.

Benefits of Kindness

Most of us will have heard that "doing good is good for you" or "it’s better to give than to receive." It may be a surprise to learn that the research genuinely supports this. When we show up for others kindly, the benefits go both ways. Practicing kindness for the sake of kindness is one of the greatest gifts we can give to others and ourselves.

Research shows that being kind boosts the production of the feel-good hormones (serotonin and dopamine ), which give feelings of satisfaction and well-being, and activate the pleasure and reward areas in the brain of the givers and receivers. Endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller, can also be released and contribute to a "helper’s high." Kindness also fosters our sense of belonging and helps us build and strengthen our relationships (Hamilton, 2017).

Research shows that performing acts of kindness and helping others improves the happiness of the helper (Curry et al., 2018; Hamilton, 2017). A study by Rowland and Curry (2019) found that people who performed kindness activities for seven days experienced greater happiness. The increase in happiness was true whether the social tie was a friend, family member, stranger, or themselves. As you might expect, the more kind activities one does, the greater the boost in happiness. Even just observing acts of kindness had positive effects on one’s happiness.

In his book, The Five Side Effects of Kindness , David Hamilton discusses how we experience the effects of kindness throughout our entire nervous system . He suggests that kindness is good for the heart because the warm feelings we get help to generate oxytocin , which can reduce our blood pressure and stress hormone, cortisol. He also supports the idea that kindness is contagious and how acting kindly can create a ripple effect and inspire others to do the same.

Ways to Practice Kindness

Here are some ways you can practice kindness:

• Be kind to yourself. In my last post , I talked about how we could all use a gentle reminder about being a little kinder to ourselves. For many of us, showing up kindly starts with repairing the relationship we have with ourselves. I provided some restorative and practical ideas for how we can start to show up kindly for ourselves. When we are kinder with ourselves, we are kinder to others.
• Practice the kindergarten basics. Manners, turn-taking, including others, and comforting that friend who fell and scraped their knee. A kind environment is the compound of many small, kind acts.
• Show gratitude . When we feel grateful, we need to share this with others. Recognize and bring attention to what uplifts you. Tell someone they are doing a great job. End your work week by emailing someone who helped you out that week. Text or call a loved one to tell them they make a difference in your life.
• Listen to understand, not respond or problem-solve . So often, when others are talking, we think about how we will reply or what solutions we will provide. The truth is that being present, and listening, is a form of showing the kindness that can make another feel heard, understood, and truly felt. Next time you ask someone how they are, hold space and really listen to what they have to say.

Being kind is about showing up as your true self and inviting others to come as they are, too. It is meeting yourself and others with compassion and understanding in the present moment. Each of us can be why someone believes there are good people in this world.

So, kindness might not make the world go 'round (we have momentum and gravity to thank for that), but kindness does certainly make the world a better place.

Think about the power that a kind gesture, a kind hand, a kind word, or a listening ear can have on someone in a moment when they feel like their world is crumbling. Think about the way that it can make an already-good day that much better. Now think about the positive impact on the giver’s physical and mental health. The power of kindness is remarkable.

We may never know just how big of an impact our small acts of kindness have on someone else. But we know that kind humans doing kind things are exactly what this unwell world needs more of.

Although it may not be your first time hearing this one, I will leave you with this final ask:

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” —Unknown

Facebook image: Aloha Hawaii/Shutterstock

LinkedIn image: Dmytro Zinkevych/Shutterstock

Curry, O. S., Rowland, L. A., Van Lissa, C. J., Zlotowitz, S., McAlaney, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2018). Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76 , 320-329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.02.014

Hamilton, D. (2017). The five side effects of kindness: This book will make you feel better, be happier & live longer . Hay House UK.

Rowland, L., & Curry, O. S. (2019). A range of kindness activities boost happiness. The Journal of Social Psychology, 159 (3), 340-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2018.1469461

Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, Ed.D. , is a resiliency and wellness scholar and speaker, author of Calm Within the Storm and Stress Wisely , and award-winning instructor and adjunct professor at Trent University.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Kindness — Acts of Kindness: Importance of Being Kind

Acts of Kindness: Importance of Being Kind

• Categories: Empathy Humanity Kindness

About this sample

Words: 792 |

Updated: 30 November, 2023

Words: 792 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Works Cited:

• Elliot, A. J., Maier, M. A., Moller, A. C., Friedman, R., & Meinhardt, J. (2007). Color and psychological functioning: The effect of red on performance attainment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136(1), 154-168.
• Foulsham, T., Walker, E., & Kingstone, A. (2011). The where, what, and when of gaze allocation in the lab and the natural environment. Vision Research, 51(17), 1920-1931.
• Hemphill, M. A. (1996). A note on adults' color-emotion associations. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 157(3), 275-280.
• Jacobs, K. W., & Hustmyer Jr, F. E. (1974). Effects of four psychological primary colors on GSR, heart rate and respiration rate. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 38(3), 763-766.
• Johnson, K. K., & Lennon, S. J. (2015). The role of color in marketing. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), 243-249.
• Kuehni, R. G. (2013). Color: An introduction to practice and principles (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
• Morton, J. L., & Johnson, M. H. (2011). Consistency of color emotion. Color Research & Application, 36(1), 41-52.
• Palmer, S. E., & Schloss, K. B. (2010). An ecological valence theory of human color preference. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(19), 8877-8882.
• Smith, K. C., & Crenshaw, S. (2019). Color theory: An essential guide to color-from basic principles to practical applications. Rockport Publishers.
• Valdez, P., & Mehrabian, A. (1994). Effects of color on emotions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123(4), 394-409.

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Kindness and Compassion for Students

What are they.

Compassion is defined as the feeling that arises when you perceive another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.

Compassion can arise from empathy —the more general ability to understand and feel others’ emotions—but goes further by also including the desire to help. Of course, we can feel compassion without acting on it, and not all helpful acts are motivated by compassion.

When compassion does lead to action, we often call the result kindness. Kindness always includes the intention to benefit other people, especially (though not always) at a cost or risk to ourselves.

Research has shown that compassion and kindness are deeply rooted in human nature–our first impulse is to cooperate rather than compete. Even toddlers spontaneously help people in need out of genuine concern for their welfare. This innate kindness, however, often gets lost in a society built on competition. Schools have a golden opportunity to cultivate the compassionate side of students by creating a school culture in which kindness is valued and practiced.

• A science teacher sets up his classroom to cultivate students’ innate kindness and cooperation, rather than their selfish and competitive natures. He takes the time at the start of the school year to get to know students and for students to get to know each other by doing some fun icebreakers from Playworks, like Crooked Circle .
• To create an inclusive and connected classroom climate, students sit in a large circle for discussions and in small groups during regular instruction.
• Everyone is encouraged to practice self-care, taking short breaks when they need to in the “Chillax Corner”, and to take care of each other—noticing when a fellow student might be having a hard time and connecting with him or her.
• The curriculum is taught with a “prosocial” lens, taking into consideration how the scientific content might be used to benefit students’ communities and society in general.

Children’s understanding of kindness and compassion change as they mature. For example, their ability to be compassionate grows as they develop their perspective-taking ability and emotion regulation. Elementary age students and younger may view kindness mainly in concrete ways, such as in terms of the consequences of actions; whereas, older children and teens can appreciate the intentions behind the actions, allowing them to better navigate complex situations.

• A first grader might say kindness is asking someone to play, taking turns, or helping someone who is hurt.
• A high schooler gives his friend a hard time for choosing to go to the movies rather than study for an important test. At first, his friend is upset, but then realizes that the admonishment was made in his best interest.

Why Are They Important?

Research has found that practicing compassion and kindness can improve health, well-being, and relationships, as well as academic achievement. Of course, beyond our own lives, these qualities strengthen our communities and may even be vital to the survival of our species as a whole.

Kindness and compassion make us happier.

• Compassion training programs, even very brief ones, strengthen reward circuits in the brain and lead to lasting increases in self-reported happiness.
• Compassion training also enables us be more altruistic , and kindness does seem to be its own reward —giving to others activates those pleasure circuits and actually makes people, including kids , happier than spending money on themselves.

Compassion makes us more resilient.

• Feeling compassion helps us to overcome empathic distress —or the feeling for others that makes us so upset that we want to run away rather than help. We are better able to handle the strong emotions that occur when faced with others’ suffering.

Kindness and compassion are good for our health.

• Feeling compassionate can reduce the risk of heart disease by helping slow the heart rate , and compassion training has been shown to reduce stress hormones and boost the immune system.
• Acts of kindness such as donating money help lower blood pressure .
• People who volunteer are healthier overall, and teens who volunteer to help younger kids show reduced risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Kindness and compassion improve our relationships.

• Compassion is associated with more satisfaction and growth in friendships and makes us less vindictive towards others.
• Compassionate behavior is highly valued in romantic relationships: In surveys of over 10,000 people across 37 cultures, kindness was rated the most important quality in a mate, and the only one universally required.
• Altruism promotes social connections in general and creates ripple effects of generosity in communities.

Kindness and compassion benefit education.

• Preschoolers and elementary schoolers prompted to perform acts of kindness show increased well-being and social competence; in turn, prosocial (kind and helpful) peer interactions increase middle schoolers’ positive emotions and life satisfaction.
• Prosocial behavior in elementary school predicts higher academic achievement in middle school, and it predicts academic achievement in high school.
• High-quality service learning programs, which put compassion into action by combining classroom learning with real-world community service, have been shown to improve academic performance, student attitudes and behavior, and school climate.
• When high schoolers see their school as a kind place, they are more interested and motivated to learn .

Practice Collections

Seeds of Self-Compassion

Art on Purpose

Assessing Your School Climate

Courage Blooms

Inspiring Climate Awareness Through Gratitude

Courage Creatures

Identifying Acts of Courage

Courageous and Compassionate Citizens

Developing the Courage to Speak Up

The Bystander’s Dilemma: What Does Courage Look Like?

Finding Awe in Collective Acts of Kindness

Creating Musical Playlists for the Classroom

The Beauty of Collective Effervescence

Finding Awe In Everyday Moral Beauty

Letting Music Shape You

People Can Change: Recognizing Our Potential for Growth

Listening with Compassion

Building Collaborative Classroom Norms

GGIE Online Courses for Educators

Do you want to dive deeper into the science behind our GGIE practices? Enroll in one of our online courses for educators!

Essay on Importance of Kindness

Students are often asked to write an essay on Importance of Kindness in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Importance of Kindness

Understanding kindness.

Kindness is a virtue that everyone should possess. It’s the act of being friendly, generous, and considerate. It brings joy to people’s lives and strengthens relationships.

Why is Kindness Important?

Kindness is important because it promotes positivity. When we show kindness, we spread happiness. This can make the world a better place.

The Impact of Kindness

Kindness creates a ripple effect. One act of kindness can inspire others to do the same. This can lead to a community filled with love and respect.

In conclusion, kindness is a powerful tool. It can change lives and make the world a better place. So, let’s be kind!

250 Words Essay on Importance of Kindness

Introduction.

Kindness, a fundamental human virtue, is often overshadowed by the pursuit of personal success. However, its importance in fostering a harmonious society cannot be understated.

Kindness and Personal Development

Kindness plays a pivotal role in personal development. It cultivates empathy, patience, and understanding, strengthening our emotional intelligence. When we practice kindness, we step out of our comfort zone, broadening our perspectives and enhancing our personal growth.

The Ripple Effect of Kindness

Kindness has a ripple effect. A single act can inspire others, leading to a chain reaction of benevolence. This collective kindness can bring about substantial societal change, promoting peace and unity.

Kindness and Mental Health

Kindness also has profound effects on mental health. It triggers the release of endorphins and serotonin, promoting happiness and reducing stress. Furthermore, it strengthens relationships, providing a support network crucial for mental wellbeing.

Kindness in Leadership

In leadership, kindness fosters trust and respect, enhancing team cohesion and productivity. It encourages open communication and collaboration, crucial for innovation and problem-solving.

In conclusion, kindness is a powerful tool for personal and societal development. It instills empathy, promotes mental health, and enhances leadership skills. As future leaders, let us embrace kindness, not as an afterthought, but as a guiding principle in our journey towards a better world.

500 Words Essay on Importance of Kindness

Introduction: the power of kindness.

Kindness, often overlooked, is a powerful trait that has the potential to transform individual lives and societies. A simple act of kindness can create ripples that extend far beyond the immediate context, fostering empathy, compassion, and mutual understanding among people. As college students, the importance of kindness cannot be overstated as it plays a crucial role in creating a conducive learning environment and shaping our future society.

Kindness is not only beneficial to those who receive it, but also to those who practice it. It has been linked to improved mood and reduced stress levels. When we engage in acts of kindness, our brain releases endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, which induce feelings of happiness and satisfaction. This emotional uplift can help alleviate anxiety and depression, contributing to overall mental health. Additionally, kindness fosters personal growth by encouraging empathy and compassion, critical skills in our increasingly interconnected world.

Kindness as a Social Glue

Kindness acts as a social glue that fosters community cohesion. It promotes a sense of belonging and mutual respect, which are vital for harmonious coexistence. In a diverse college setting, kindness can bridge cultural and social gaps, fostering inclusivity and understanding. This is particularly important in our globalized world, where diversity is not just a fact of life, but a valuable resource that can enrich our perspectives and experiences.

In the context of leadership, kindness is often misconstrued as a weakness. However, research has shown that leaders who exhibit kindness are more effective. Kind leaders create a safe space where team members feel valued and heard, leading to increased productivity and innovation. They also foster loyalty and trust, which are crucial for team dynamics. As future leaders, college students must understand the transformative power of kindness in leadership.

Kindness and Social Change

Kindness can also be a potent tool for social change. History is replete with instances where acts of kindness have sparked movements and brought about significant societal transformations. By standing up against injustice, showing compassion to the marginalized, or simply extending a helping hand to those in need, we can make a profound impact. As future change-makers, it is essential for college students to recognize the potential of kindness as a force for good.

Conclusion: Cultivating a Culture of Kindness

In conclusion, kindness is not just a personal virtue but a societal asset that can contribute to personal growth, community cohesion, effective leadership, and social change. As college students, it is imperative to cultivate a culture of kindness, not just on campus, but in every sphere of our lives. By doing so, we can contribute to a more empathetic, understanding, and inclusive society.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Kindness Is Compassion in Action
• Essay on How to Avoid an Argument
• Essay on Happiness in Life

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

Parenting & Family Articles & More

How do elementary students show kindness to others, we asked fourth and fifth graders about how they think about kindness—and they were particularly attuned to compassion and inclusion..

Kindness is sometimes dismissed as a simplistic virtue comprised of “being nice.” But how do kids think about kindness—and could understanding kindness help us to teach and promote kindness more effectively?

In a study recently published in the Journal of Positive Psychology , we found that children’s thinking about kindness encompasses a rich set of selfless, altruistic orientations that can benefit others, schools, and societies.

We explored the spectrum of children’s understandings of kindness by asking 320 fourth- and fifth-grade students from two school districts in British Colombia, Canada, to list the ways that they can show kindness to others. Our findings showed that many children described kindness in terms of generous (57% of children) and compassionate (43%) behaviors. For example:

• “Share food” (generosity)
• “Congratulate people” (generosity)
• “Listen when a friend is sad” (compassion)
• “Help them with a question they’re stuck on” (compassion)

Children’s thinking about kindness also expanded to virtues of inclusion (31%), civility (24%), and harm avoidance (14%). For example:

• “Eat lunch with them” (inclusion)
• “Respect others’ feelings” (civility)
• “Don’t be selfish” (harm avoidance)
• “Don’t bully” (harm avoidance)

We also examined classmates’ and teachers’ perceptions of each child. Interestingly, children whose kindness responses attended to others’ vulnerability (in other words, they mentioned compassion and inclusion as ways to be kind) were identified as particularly kind by their classmates, whereas children’s kindness responses were unrelated to teachers’ ratings of kind behavior.

These results suggest that classmates, more so than teachers, notice and appreciate others who think about, and therefore enact, kindness in ways that are compassionate and inclusive. Perhaps this is because classmates are more likely to be the beneficiaries of children’s compassion and inclusion than teachers. Compassion and inclusion are responses to suffering and isolation, respectively, that would not likely go unnoticed by the recipients of such kindness.

What implications does this research have for promoting kindness in the classroom?

The way children describe kindness aligns with themes covered in social and emotional learning programs that focus on cultivating children’s kindness. The most common kindness responses identified in this study (generosity, compassion, inclusion) may be solid entry points for education about kindness, as fourth and fifth graders identified them as particularly relatable and widely agreed-upon expressions of kindness.

In contrast, the least common kindness responses (harm avoidance, gratitude, and perhaps forgiveness) may reflect areas of growth that could require additional scaffolding and support to expand children’s notions of kindness into these areas.

Our findings also imply that efforts to expand children’s thinking about kindness to incorporate compassionate and inclusive actions may be most impactful and appreciated by their classmates. Indeed, existing research has already demonstrated that there are social benefits for those who are viewed as kind, such as greater acceptance by their peers.

When asked about kindness, children listed an average of roughly three ways to be kind to others, which means that they think about kindness as much more than simply “being nice”—and also suggests that educational efforts could go a long way toward further expanding their conceptualizations of kindness. Understanding how children naturally think about kindness is important foundational knowledge for teachers and parents to work from in their efforts to build kind, happy classrooms.

About the Authors

Summer S. Braun

Summer S. Braun, Ph.D. , is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and affiliated with the Center for Youth Development and Intervention at the University of Alabama.

Michael T. Warren

Michael T. Warren, Ph.D. , is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and affiliated with the Center for Cross-Cultural Research at Western Washington University.

Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl

Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, Ph.D. , is the NoVo Foundation Endowed Chair in Social and Emotional Learning and professor in the community and applied developmental psychology (CADP) program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Benefits of showing kindness to others

Showing kindness to others can do more than make their day better – it can also make you healthier and happier.

“There is so much research about all the benefits of volunteerism and acts of kindness,” says Sandy Pyle, RN, oncology nurse navigator at the Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support at Piedmont Athens Regional.

Research has suggested that random acts of kindness can:

Be contagious – when other people see you do something good, they may feel more motivated to follow suit

Boost energy and happiness

Decrease stress , anxiety and depression

Help you have a more positive attitude

Improve your sense of life satisfaction

Increase your lifespan

Increase serotonin, endorphins and oxytocin, the body’s feel-good chemicals that improve your mood, reduce pain and boost feelings of love

Light up your brain’s pleasure sensors, giving you a “helper’s high”

Lower your blood pressure

Strengthen your relationships

Ideas for acts of kindness

There are so many ways to show kindness to others, using your unique gifts to serve those around you. Kindness could mean a gift, a compliment or encouraging word, helping someone with a chore or task, offering a hug, or spending quality time with someone.

Consider what would best suit the recipient. If you don’t know someone very well, a hug or unsolicited advice may not be appropriate, while an encouraging word or small gift may be well-received. 

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Using your crafting skills . “The Loran Smith Center is the beneficiary of a group that knits caps and makes beautiful quilts for our chemotherapy patients,” says Pyle. “We also have groups who make heart-shaped pillows for our post-mastectomy patients and teacups for patients in the hospital. People who receive these gifts are oftentimes so touched by these acts of kindness.”

Show your support. Pyle facilitates a breast cancer support group and says she has women who have continued to come to the group meetings nine and 10 years out from their diagnosis. “They come back and I know it’s to help women who are new to the group, who have just been diagnosed,” she says. “That’s where I see the giving and the acts of kindness: when they share their story, what they went through and how they got through it.” 

Give someone a compliment. Do you love your coworker’s earrings or the shoes of the woman in front of you at the store? Tell her!

Donate to charity. Pick a cause you believe in and give money to support it.

Pay for the person behind you in line at the drive-thru or for the meal of someone sitting near you at a restaurant.

Let someone cut in front of you in traffic.

Offer to let someone with fewer groceries go ahead of you in line at the supermarket.

Bring a meal to a friend who has a lot on his or her plate – perhaps a recent cancer diagnosis, the loss of a loved one or the birth of a new baby.

Offer to do a chore your spouse or partner doesn’t like to do, such as taking out the trash.

Send a note to a loved one who lives far away.

Leave your server a large tip after your next meal.

Write a thank-you note to a healthcare provider who has helped you in a difficult circumstance.

Send a loved one flowers for no reason.

Finally, Pyle encourages you not to put too much pressure on yourself to serve others if you are going through intense medical treatments or have received a difficult diagnosis. While putting others first can boost your mood, you don’t have to be strong for everyone all the time.

“Your feelings are valid, and what you are going through is really crummy,” she says. “You don’t always have to be a pillar of strength. It’s OK to curl up on the couch, but it’s also important to get up off the couch and do something you like to do.”

Learn more ways to reduce stress and improve your well-being .

References:

The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

National Institutes of Health

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

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How To Show Kindness – 40 Simple Ways To Show Kindness To Others

We live in such a crazy world and sometimes a simple act of kindness can go a long way. If you are looking for simple ways to show kindness to others, here are 40 ideas to consider. It doesn’t have to be overcomplicated. In fact, how to show kindness is easier than you think.

There are many different ways for you to spread a little sunshine. The way you decide on how to show kindness will inevitably be up to you, but the results with be the same. You will be spreading joy, love, and lifting spirits! And guess what? We could all use that right about now.

What Is Kindness?

So, in the end… what is kindness ? I suppose it depends on who you ask. There are three traits that make up an act of kindness. Whatever you do, it will have to possess the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

As long as you keep those underlining vibes in mind, then you will be golden. There are so many different ways to be kind . Odds are, you do one hundred acts of kindness without even thinking about it every single day – and that’s a great time!

Kindness and compassion come naturally to many people and thank goodness for it! So, if you are looking for extra special ways to sprinkle some extra positivity out there – good for you! I am sure there are plenty of people looking for it.

How To Be Kind To Others – A Personal Approach

Before I get to my list of 40, I want to note that a list all about how to be kind to others can sound a bit general. If you have someone in your life that is suffering and is in need of attention, then you will need to cater to that specific situation.

What does it mean to be kind? It means that you see someone suffering and you act in a way to lessen the hurt. So, if you see a friend that is hurting, then you need to find the appropriate kindness and compassion that will lessen his/her blow.

Related: 7 Ways to Stop Making Excuses

How To Show Kindness – 40 Simple Ways To Show Kindness To Others

Ok! Here we are! My list of 40 ways to show kindness to others! These ideas can get you started on your journey of sharing joy and positivity with the world. How to show kindness – 40 easy ways:

• Give a compliment to a friend
• Wave to a stranger
• Say thank you
• Give someone the benefit of the doubt
• Forgive someone that has hurt you
• Hold the door open as you are leaving a restaurant
• Pay for someone’s coffee that is in line with you
• Offer to listen to a problem
• Donate clothes you no longer use
• Write a card and send it by mail
• Send a text message to someone on their birthday
• Make someone a home-cooked meal
• Do the dishes
• Apologize if you need to
• Run errands for someone who is entirely too overwhelmed right now
• Offer to give someone a ride who doesn’t have a car
• Volunteer your time at a local shelter
• Bite your tongue
• Sit next to someone who is alone at a party
• Check in with neighbors
• Call your mother
• Give up your seat on the train to someone in need
• Be considerate
• Make it a point to lift other people UP
• Be considerate to someone that you do not like
• Return your grocery cart
• Say what you mean
• Pray for people
• Eye contact – don’t be afraid to use it
• Use encouraging words as often as you can
• Pick up the phone and call someone
• Show up on time
• Put away your phone
• Have patience with people
• Bring flowers to someone you know – for no reason whatsoever
• Pet a dog (after getting permission)
• Remain positive
• Bake something for your family that you know they love

Showing Kindness To Others Is A Wonderful Thing

I would love to hear how you tackled the day and what ideas you used to spread joy and positivity. How to show kindness is easier than you think! Leave a comment below.

• Positivity Is Contagious – 25 Ways To Start Spreading Positivity
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Kindness Essay

Kindness essay is a reflection on the idea of kindness, which is an act of selflessness. Because kindness doesn’t come with the expectation of receiving anything in return, it is a great way to show your appreciation for what you have received in life.

Kindness is always an excellent choice to make in any situation. When someone feels bad or down, the kindness shown can make a person feel more supported and loved. It is an action that anyone can do.

Importance of Kindness Essay

Kindness is a simple yet powerful gesture. It can positively impact someone’s life, and the ripple effect is just as powerful. In the academic community, kindness is thought to be an attitude that influences achievement among people.

Kindness is a form of love and compassion and one that needs to spread throughout the world. It allows people to see the best in others, encouraging them to be their best selves. Allowing kindness to exist for those around us is beneficial for them and ourselves.

It is our responsibility as human beings to be kind to other people. We can be considerate and compassionate towards other people to live in peace and love. Kindness is a virtue, and it is one of the essential things in life. It shows other people that you care about them and takes away some of the pain and suffering that they may be feeling. It can also help heal others, and everyone should always try to think about how their actions will affect others before taking them.

Kindness is vital in every single person’s life. It makes the world a better place and can make someone feel loved. With the help of kindness, you can start your good deeds to make the world a better place.

You can find more essays similar to the kindness essay on BYJU’S website. Also, explore a wide range of exciting kids’ learning resources on the website.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is kindness.

Kindness is a simple gesture that can positively impact someone’s life. It also helps people be compassionate and considerate towards others.

Why is kindness important?

Kindness is important because it is our responsibility to be kind to others. This helps people to live in peace and love. As a virtue, kindness is one of the essential things in life. It helps us be empathetic towards people and extend our hands to support them.

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99 Simple Ways to Show Kindness

• Leave a note on a neighbor’s or coworker’s car wishing them a spectacular day.
• Buy a box of granola bars and leave it in your car, offering one to someone who looks hungry along your way.
• Buy a box of dog treats to leave in your car, offering one to a furry friend who looks hungry.
• Buy a cup of coffee for the stranger behind you in line.
• Bring a reusable mug with you when you get your morning coffee, showing kindness to the environment.
• The next time you have leftovers, bring a meal to your neighbor, offering them dinner or a packed lunch for the day ahead.
• Write an email to the manager of a coffee shop or grocery store that you frequent about an employee that you find extremely helpful and friendly.
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.
• Text a friend or loved one a photo of something that reminds you of them.
• Buy (or prepare and bring) lunch for a friend or coworker.
• Next time someone cuts you off on the road, gently wave them in. You never know what kind of day they are having.
• Give someone a compliment.
• Write a “thinking of you” card to a friend or family member you haven’t talked to in a while. Send it in the mail. (Yes, the snail mail.)
• Keep a can of soup at your desk and offer it to the next coworker who says they had to work through lunch.
• Next time you hear gossip, change the course of the conversation toward praise and gratitude about the person or situation.
• Donate a bag of stuff that you no longer use.
• Give someone the benefit of the doubt.
• Next time you notice a coworker stressed out or overwhelmed, find out their favorite treat and pick up that smoothie, latte, or cookie for them during the mid-afternoon slump.
• Invite a lonely friend to a holiday meal or party. Make an effort to introduce them around.
• Bring in snacks or treats for your coworkers for no reason at all.
• Buy lemonade at the next lemonade stand you pass. Commend the kids on a job well done. For bonus points, buy two and tell them to gift the next lemonade to the next person who walks by.
• Leave a server an extra big tip if you notice they are having a rough day.
• Pay a toll for the car behind you at the tollbooth or pay the bus fare for someone standing behind you.
• Smile at passersby. (Yes, displaying kindness can be that easy.)
• Offer to run an errand for a sick or injured friend.
• Offer to babysit for a friend who needs to go to a yoga class.
• Give your leftovers to a homeless person. Don’t forget to get plastic utensils and a napkin.
• Offer to help someone with their luggage at the airport.
• Hold the door open for a mom with her stroller.
• Offer your seat to someone on the train, bus, or subway.
• Facebook message a friend from the past and thank them for something they did years ago.
• Write a thank you note to your boss or coworker, explaining how they helped you. Include specific details.
• Pick up trash on the street or at the park.
• Next time you order something from a counter, ask the cashier how their day is going.
• Offer to help an elderly person cross the street or load groceries into their car.
• Buy a lottery ticket and give it to a stranger.
• Buy your spouse’s favorite ice cream next time you’re at the store. (Even if it’s not your choice!)
• Donate your hair to cancer patients. (You need to have a certain amount of hair to donate. Check out Locks of Love for details.)
• Offer to take out a friend for tea, lunch, or dinner for no reason at all.
• Mentor a junior employee at work; offer to help them with their resume.
• Forgive someone for something they did.
• Offer to jump-start someone’s car or call for help if you see them stuck on the side of the road.
• Offer your expertise to a friend or someone who needs it. (Do you play the guitar? Offer a lesson. Are you a personal trainer? Give someone a free session. Are you good at algebra? Tutor your friend’s kid. Do you make websites? Create one for a local nonprofit.)
• Turn off your lights when you’re not using them, to use less energy and conserve environmental resources.
• Write a heartwarming comment on a friend’s Facebook wall.
• Share a friend’s Facebook event or charity page, to drum up awareness for their important endeavor.
• Offer to schedule time with a new coworker to answer any questions they may have about the inner-workings of the company.
• Invite a friend over for dinner and cook something special for them. For bonus points, send them home with leftovers for lunch or dinner for their spouse.
• Offer to cook dinner for new parents while they are caring for their newborn.
• Give your partner a massage without expecting one in return.
• Bring breakfast for your favorite barista out of the blue.
• Make eye contact. We need more connection in the world, so lift your attention from your smart phone and look at everyone you see, offering a smile and acknowledging their presence.
• Say “thank you.” This should go without saying, but anytime someone does something nice for you, say “thank you” warmly and genuinely, not fleetingly.
• Give someone a hug that looks like they need it. (If it’s a stranger, ask first to avoid coming across as a creep.)
• Leave a small gift (chocolate bar, book, or flowers) in a public place for someone to find and enjoy.
• Listen. When someone needs to talk, listen with your full attention, without chiming in or offering advice.
• Organize a clothing swap with your friends. Each of you brings a box of clothes and takes home a few gems. Donate everything else to a charity.
• Write a note to a teacher, expressing gratitude for something specific they’ve done for you and how much it meant to you.
• At your next social event, find someone who looks lonely or out of place and strike up a conversation.
• Hide a note and your spouse’s favorite snack in their car, bag, or desk.
• Next time you hear a friend say they want to see a movie or read a book, buy the book or movie tickets as a surprise for them.
• Organize a craft night with your friends. Vow to gift the final product to a random person or donate the whole lot to a charity in need.
• Buy a deck of inspirational cards and leave them for people at random: on windshields, at desks, on doorsteps.
• Buy an extra cup of coffee or warm breakfast and offer it to the homeless person standing outside the door.
• Nominate someone for an award who deserves it (like a “best boss” or “employee of the year” award).
• Introduce a job-hunting friend to a new connection (or 10).
• Offer to pet-sit for a friend who needs help. Give the pet lots of love while their owner is out of town.
• Volunteer at an orphanage or women’s shelter.
• Bake cookies and bring the whole batch to your favorite restaurant or small business for the employees to enjoy.
• Make your spouse’s favorite dinner, even if it’s not your favorite. And even if it’s not their birthday.
• Say “good morning” to anyone who crosses your path.
• Publicly praise a coworker for going above and beyond.
• Send a care package to a friend in another state for no reason.
• Bring flowers to your neighbor, friend, or mom.
• Stop to let a pedestrian cross the street.
• Offer to take a photo for a someone trying to get the perfect selfie.
• Offer directions to someone who looks lost, or if you have time, offer to walk them to their destination.
• Carry $5 Starbucks gift cards and offer them to people in the street who look hungry.
• Next time you spot a coupon for your favorite store, print out several to offer to people in line behind you.
• Offer to run an errand for a friend who is particularly busy or stressed.
• Strike up a conversation with someone you don’t particularly like. Look for something good in his or her character during the conversation.
• Buy a box of thank you notes and leave it for your team at work or your family at home. Tell everyone to use them whenever someone does something they appreciate.
• Treat a friend to a yoga class or invite someone to be your guest at your gym.
• Washing your car? Offer to wash your neighbor’s car, too.
• Introduce two of your single friends if you think they’d be a good match.
• Give your old warm coat or an extra blanket to someone who is homeless.
• Do the dishes for your spouse, even though you also cooked the meal.
• Bake a cake or treats for someone celebrating a birthday (find out their favorite!)
• Leave nice comments on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (even to strangers.)
• Keep gum or mints in your pocket or purse and offer them freely.
• Give someone a ride who needs it.
• Offer the gardener, plumber, or handyman a cup of coffee or tea.
• Gently distract the grumpy kids sitting next to you on the plane. Offer to read them a book or tell them a funny story so their parents can have a short break.
• Offer to donate your vacation time or sick days to a coworker struggling with a long-term illness or taking care of a sick parent or kid.
• Write a positive Yelp review of a business you like.
• Promote a friend’s small business or website: If they are a life coach, personal trainer, personal chef, caterer, nanny, wedding planner, or run any type of blog, it means the world to them that you have their back and are telling others about their services—via email or social media. It is HUGE for them and small for you.
• Organize a small donation for a coworker or friend going through a divorce, illness, or difficult time. Ask 10 people to donate $5 to $10 and buy them a massage, package of yoga classes, gift basket, or gift certificate to Whole Foods to brighten their day with gifts that promote wellness.
• Offer to help someone move. Or, if you see people moving and you happen to have a free 20 minutes, offer to make a few trips to the truck for them.
• Text a joke or photo to a friend who’s going through a tough time to make them smile.

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How to Show Kindness to Others

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Kindness, the motivation, recognition and enactment of positive actions towards others, is invaluable -- it has an amazing power to alter how you view others and the world around you. Offering others kindness can change someone else's day for the better. It can be difficult to be kind to others, but it can change cycles of negativity -- when you are kind to others it makes them happier and more likely to spread that kindness. There are many ways to show kindness, so find the method that best fits you.

Giving to others is a common notion of kindness. You can give money to a charity or offer food to a homeless person. Underlying giving as a form of kindness is the sacrifice of something you have to improve another person's life. Giving manifests in different ways and is capable of turning someone's life around. Whether it is a dollar or a full meal, giving as kindness is important.

Listening to others is a subtle form of kindness, but it can mean the world to them. When you listen to people, you show that you respect them and what they have to say. You honor their words and indicate that they are important to you. For people who feel isolated or unimportant, something as simple as listening can boost their confidence and self-esteem.

Random Acts

Random acts of kindness are typically spontaneous forms of positive action. Paying for someone's food, helping a stranger replace a flat tire, or even telling your cashier to have a good day are all small and impromptu ways to show others kindness. Often, it is these acts that create a silver lining for people who are having a bad day. It does not take much to change someone's day, so look for small opportunities to better someone's life.

Loving-Kindness

Loving-kindness is a Buddhist method of attitude change that fosters compassion for yourself and others. It is the predecessor to love sent outward to others, which can manifest as kindness. This practice creates loving feelings for others and enhances them in yourself, which leads to an increased likelihood of your offering kindness to others. Loving-kindness meditation is as simple as offering positive thoughts to respected, loved, neutral, and hostile people in your life. This practice radiates love within you and increases your chances of being kind to others.

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Types Of Ministries

• Journal of Happiness Studies; Happy People Become Happier Through Kindness: A Counting Kindnesses Intervention; Keiko Otake et al.
• Buddhanet: Loving-Kindness Meditation

S. Grey has a Master of Science in counseling psychology from the University of Central Arkansas. He is also pursuing a PhD and has a love for psychology, comic books and social justice. He has been published in a text on social psychology and regularly presents research at regional psychology conferences.

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75 Ways to Show Kindness to Others

Send a card to someone you haven\'t seen in a long time

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Donate canned goods to a shelter

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Make your loved-one breakfast in bed

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Order or make dinner for new parents

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Use please and thank you when speaking to others

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Take care of a neighbors plants and mail while they are out of town

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Send someone a thinking of you text

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Look at a loved one\'s Amazon ‘Wish List’ and surprise them by buying them an item

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Have an open mind and keep judgements to yourself

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Spend time off social media and have conversations in your own house

Assume people are generally kind

Offer someone a ride to the airport or offer to pick them up

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Shovel your neighbors sidewalks

Do the dishes when you go to a friend\'s house for dinner

Practice patient with people

Celebrate other people\'s success

Don\'t hold grudges

Be a mentor to someone

Be honest with others and keep your word

Donate to a local charity

Bring a small hostess gift when you are invited over for dinner or to a party

Invite someone who is alone over for dinner or include them during the holidays

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Opinion Lydia Polgreen

The Student-Led Protests Aren’t Perfect. That Doesn’t Mean They’re Not Right.

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By Lydia Polgreen

Photographs by Mark Peterson

Ms. Polgreen is an Opinion columnist and a co-host of the “Matter of Opinion” podcast for The Times. Mr. Peterson is a photographer based in New York and a member of Redux Pictures.

• April 26, 2024

On Wednesday morning, on a corner across the street from Columbia University, a man dressed in black, a huge gold cross around his neck, brandished a sign that featured a bloodstained Israeli flag and the word “genocide” in capital letters. He was also shouting at the top of his lungs.

“The Jews control the world! Jews are murderers!”

I watched as a pro-Palestine protester approached the man. “That is horribly antisemitic,” she said. “You are hurting the movement and you are not a part of us. Go away.”

The man shouted vile, unprintable epithets back at her, but the woman, who told me she had come to New York from her home in Baltimore to support the protesting students, walked away.

Hours later, a well-known congressional reporter covering House Speaker Mike Johnson’s visit to Columbia’s campus posted a photograph of the same man. “One sign here at the Columbia protest,” the reporter, Jake Sherman, wrote. “This man is ranting about Jews controlling the universe.”

The man wasn’t “at the Columbia protest.” The university’s campus has been closed to outsiders for over a week — even as a journalist and an alumnus, I had trouble getting in. He was, several people on social media told Sherman, a well-known antisemitic crank completely unconnected from what was unfolding on campus. Indeed, last week I had seen a man wearing an identical cross carrying a similarly lettered sign that read, “Google it! Jews vs. TikTok” protesting outside Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Lower Manhattan. He was, for the record, standing on the pro-Trump side of the protest area.

But the incident is emblematic of how difficult it has become to make sense of what is actually happening on college campuses right now. As the protests have spread to dozens of campuses and counting , competing viral clips on social media paint vastly different versions of what’s happening inside these pro-Palestine camps. Are they violent conflict zones, filled with militant protesters who hurl antisemitic abuse and threaten Jewish students, requiring, as some political leaders have suggested, deployment of the National Guard? Or is it a giant love-fest of students braiding daisy chains and singing “Kumbaya”?

I tried to figure this out the only way I know how: by reporting. I happened to have been on campus on April 18, the day Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, decided to call in the New York Police Department to clear the protesters from campus, and I returned a week later to spend the day reporting on the protests and the mood on campus.

What I saw were moving, creative and peaceful protests by people seeking to end the slaughter in Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have died, the majority of them women and children. I also saw things that left me quite troubled, and heard from Jewish students both inside and outside the camps navigating a campus fraught with emotions. But while reporting on the protests up close gave me insight into how unsettling some aspects of activism can be, it doesn’t mean the protesters’ actions are misguided. These young people seek a worthy cause: to end what may be the most brutal military operation for civilians in the 21st century.

In the days since Shafik called for the N.Y.P.D. to break up protests, copycat encampments have sprung up on dozens of campuses across the country, and at least 17 of them have faced police intervention. My social media feeds have filled with horrifying images of students and professors being violently dragged away by the police. In one especially shocking video from Emory University captured by CNN, a police officer shouted at Caroline Fohlin, a middle-aged economics professor: “Get on the ground! Get on the ground!” The officer grabs her and flips her onto the grass as she screams: “Oh my God! Oh my God!”

On Wednesday afternoon, during his visit to campus, Speaker Johnson made it clear what he thought was happening there. He all but called the university a war zone and declared the protests as antisemitic, conflating, as many proponents of Israel do, opposition to Israel’s policies with hatred of Jews. “It’s detestable, as Columbia has allowed these lawless agitators and radicals to take over,” he said. “If this is not contained quickly, and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard. We have to bring order to these campuses.”

While Johnson was meeting with a group of Jewish students, I was wandering among the lawless agitators, who have been camping out on a lawn on campus. In one corner of the encampment, a small group of students sat cross legged, discussing the poem “Kindness” by the Palestinian American poet Naomi Shihab Nye. Another group had broken out art supplies to reapply the paint to their Gaza Solidarity Encampment banner. Others were napping or doing yoga. There was a well-stocked food tent, with options for all — gluten-free, vegan, nut-free and more. I have spent more than my share of time in war zones. This felt more like an earnest folk music festival.

On campus, I spoke to Muslim and Arab students who told me how frightened and angry they are. I spoke to Jewish students who participated in the pro-Palestine protests and scoffed at the notion that the protests endanger them. I also spoke to Jewish students who told me that they feel the protests target them as Jews, and make them fear for their safety.

Whether you are watching student protesters on social media or experiencing the protests in person, the way you understand these protests depends on your perception of what they are protesting. It could not be otherwise. If you feel that what is happening in Gaza is a moral atrocity, the student protests will look like a brave stand against American complicity in what they believe is genocide — and a few hateful slogans amid thousands of peaceful demonstrators will look like a minor detail. If you feel the Gaza war is a necessarily violent defense against terrorists bent on destroying the Jewish state, the students will seem like collaborators with murderous antisemitism — even if many of them are Jewish.

I heard both of these perspectives from Columbia students themselves on campus. “When I sit in statistics class, and I am hearing ‘globalize the Intifada,’ ‘from the river to the sea and so on,’ I cannot study and I cannot focus on the class,” Saar, a junior at Columbia who asked that I not include her last name, told me. “I don’t know who will sit behind me in class, who might follow me after class and God knows what might happen. You’re living in fear all the time. People are hiding their faces. You don’t know who is who.”

David Pomerantz, a sophomore who was among the group that met with the House speaker, told me that he didn’t personally feel he was in imminent danger, but worried about others. “I think especially my friends who are visibly Jewish, who walk around in kipa, get dirty looks, get chastised for that,” he said. “I think they do feel like they’re in real physical danger. It’s a problem that can’t continue.”

While Jewish students who object to the pro-Palestine encampment navigate fear and uncertainty, those inside the camp are facing a different type of threat. I spoke to Jared, a Jewish student participating in the protests. He had given an interview in which his full name appeared, and said someone in his family had received a threatening voice mail.

“They like to dress us up as a token minority or as self-hating Jews,” he told me. “But I was raised as a Jewish person to call attention to injustice whenever I see it. Palestinians should be the focus, not my safety on campus. The only threat to my safety comes from the administration.”

Just outside the campus gates, the scene was more tense. The protests have become a destination for opportunists of all kinds. Nasty purveyors of chaos. Gavin McInnes, right- wing founder of the Proud Boys, turned up , student journalists reported. On Thursday, Christian nationalists descended on Columbia to stage their own, ostensibly pro-Israel protest, screaming through the campus gates to the student protesters inside: “You want to camp? Go camp in Gaza!” according to a reporter on the scene.

At times I saw pro-Israel protesters seek to provoke pro-Palestine groups into confrontations. A white-haired man in a khaki military-style shirt with a small Israeli flag stitched onto the chest approached a group of protesters I was interviewing just off campus. They were standing around, not chanting or holding signs.

“Israel has had 400 Nobel Prize winners,” he falsely claimed (13 Israelis have won the prize), tapping the flag. “How many has your side won?”

One of the protesters, a man with a kaffiyeh wrapped around the top of his head, replied: “I don’t care about Nobel Prizes right now. I care about dead Palestinian babies.”

Interactions like those make up the flood of “evidence” we’re seeing online, much of it placed there by the moral combatants themselves. Some videos, like one that supposedly depicted a Jewish Yale student getting stabbed in the eye by a Palestinian flag, turn out to be misleadingly portrayed by the victim. Others depict what appears to be clear harassment of Jewish students, such as the one filmed outside the gates of Columbia’s campus where a protester shouted “go back to Poland,” at Jewish students, and another declared that Oct. 7 would happen “10,000 times .” Many videos show peaceful, even joyful protests, or feature Jewish students who support the pro-Palestine protests and declare that they feel safe on campus.

What are we to make of these competing claims? Having spent the past week immersed in these protests, I understand the desire to fix upon some singular piece of evidence that will decode, definitively, their moral core. But there is plenty of evidence ready-made for any side to claim moral high ground here. The camps are on the whole peaceful but it must be acknowledged that problematic things are being said.

On Thursday, video from January began circulating of one of the student protest leaders at Columbia, Khymani James, saying that “the same way we are very comfortable accepting that Nazis don’t deserve to live, fascists don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live, Zionists, they shouldn’t live in this world,” and “be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.” On Friday James released a statement apologizing for the video.

On Monday, after the arrest of more than 100 N.Y.U. protesters, the demonstrations outside Police Headquarters went on all night. I live nearby, and went down to see the protest for myself. It was a different vibe from the night the Columbia students had been arrested. There were more chants, delivered with much tighter unison and at greater volume.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine is almost free,” one chant went.

“Move, cops, get out the way, we know you’re Israeli trained.”

“There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” went another.

I winced upon hearing the last chant. Not so much the word intifada, which has many meanings and intonations depending on the context. But why choose the word “solution,” one so redolent of the Nazis’ “final solution,” which murdered six million Jews across Europe?

When the time came for a late-evening prayer, some protesters laid down their banners to use them as prayer rugs, turning toward Mecca, which in this case meant bowing down before a line of police officers in riot gear. After the prayer concluded, some of the men wandered over to the line of officers who stood behind barricades. They singled out one officer in particular, a dark-skinned man who they seemed to think was a fellow Muslim.

“There’s no way he is a Muslim and he supports the killing of 15,000 kids,” one of the protesters said (it’s estimated nearly 14,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the war began). “Impossible, unless he is not a Muslim.”

“May Allah forgive you, bro,” another said.

The officer stared straight ahead, betraying no reaction to what he was hearing. Standing next to him was another officer, a Black woman. Another protester seemingly shouted her way: “Your ancestors are ashamed of you. Your ancestors were murdered by colonizers, and you are here standing with the colonizers.”

Almost instinctively, I took umbrage at the sight of a group of light-skinned young men badgering a Black woman doing her job. Personally, I found these tactics unpleasant, even repellent. It made me uncomfortable. I can see how they might make someone feel unsafe. But to me, this discomfort came nowhere near constituting a crisis requiring extraordinary interventions, like bringing in the National Guard.

Pretending that there is no antisemitism whatsoever in the movement is foolish and self-defeating. Antisemitism is widespread, not to mention on the American right . It stands to reason that there are some people who hold antisemitic views among a mass movement of protesters.

It is easy when looking backward to remember the fight for a good cause as pure and untainted, even if it did not seem so at the time. In the same way, we now remember the Vietnam War as an American tragedy. The students at Columbia University who protested it seem, in retrospect, to have been right. But our memories elide some of their more outré tactics. A list of popular chants employed by antiwar protesters at a time when thousands of American soldiers were dying each year fighting in the war included things like “One side’s right, one side’s wrong, We’re on the side of the Viet Cong!” and “Save Hanoi, Lose Saigon, Victory to the Viet Cong!”

These slogans are sickening. But by 1968, when the protests reached their peak, the U.S. government had already realized, according to the Pentagon Papers, that the war was all but unwinnable. Yet its brutal killing machine ground on for another five years, and an additional 38,000 Americans , and countless more Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian people died pointless deaths in a senseless, futile war.

There are clear signs that Israel is prosecuting a war just as brutal, and unwinnable, as the United States did back then. Some people might not like the slogans, tactics or proposals of today’s pro-Palestine protesters. But the truth is that a majority of Americans have qualms about Israel’s pitiless war to root out Hamas, whatever the consequences for civilians. As politicians send riot police onto campuses to try to smother a new protest movement, we’d do well to keep in mind why we’ve forgotten the ugliest aspects of the Vietnam protests: Those memories have been replaced, instead, by an enduring horror at what we did.

Mr. Peterson is a photographer based in New York and a member of Redux Pictures.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Lydia Polgreen is an Opinion columnist and a co-host of the “ Matter of Opinion ” podcast for The Times.

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